'Justice League' Script Has Been Turned In

In an article which talks about The Avengers and Justice League projects, the Hollywood Reporter tells us that Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney have submitted such a great draft of their Justice League script that Warner Bros. is now searching for a director. Meanwhile, Zak Penn (who is slated to pen Avengers) has not started his script yet, and based on our conversation last month, he won't be doing so anytime soon. When I asked Penn what he'd be working on now that The Incredible Hulk was out of the way, he replied: "I'm also supposed to write The Avengers movie. I mean, I'm going to write that some day, but I don't think I'm going to write that soon. I think I'm going to write that down the line." And since that conversation took place only a month ago, I can't imagine "down the line" would only be 30 days later.

However, if Warner Bros. begins to heat up their Justice League project, perhaps Marvel Studios will begin putting some pressure on Penn to write a draft. So far, there's no word on which characters are being included in either script, although some sources have alluded to the fact that both Superman and Batman will be in Justice League, even though Warners is already knee-deep in reviving both franchises separately on the big screen. Avengers, on the other hand, include a bunch of characters who, as of today, have not appeared in their own big-screen revival(with the exception of Hulk, who is owned by Universal and probably wouldn't appear anyway). Iron Man is slated to be released next year, and we keep hearing about Thor and -- from time to time -- Captain America, but both Ant-Man and Wasp don't seem to be going anywhere. Will Marvel wait for all of them to have their own films before forging ahead on an Avengers film? Will they wait to see how Iron Man does first? Will they somehow find a way to get Robert Downey Jr. and Edward Norton (who's tapped to play the Hulk next summer) into an Avengers flick?

And what about Justice League? What about Christian Bale and Brandon Routh? While it's still a bit early to begin speculating (HR says the answers could be "years in the making"), the wrong move (or script) could seriously jeopardize some pretty massive franchises. In my opinion, both are pretty huge risks -- and if I were Marvel and Warners, I'd make two really cool CGI flicks instead. Leave the live action stuff alone. But that's just me.